An independent review into the effectiveness of badger culls in Gloucestershire published this week says the farming industry 'must take greater responsibility' for the spread of Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB).

Campaign groups and the National Farmers Union (NFU) have both criticised the review, saying Sir Charles did not have access to the latest figures and "ignoring the latest scientific evidence that the skin test is hopeless in identifying the disease".

James Small, who is a beef and sheep farmer from Somerset, said: "To say we should be taking 'more responsibility' is quite frankly, a bit of an insult."

A badger (Image: PA)

James, regional board chairman for the South West NFU, said: "Sir Charles seems to have little grasp of what the industry is doing to combat the disease, which is having a devastating effect on farms across the region.

"I would like to invite Sir Charles to visit a farm in the South West and see what the day-to-day reality of coping with this disease is like."

What does the Godfray review say?

The review of government's bTB strategy makes a number of recommendations.

The industry must take greater resonsibility for on-farm controls, biosecurity and safe trading practices to stop the disease spreading

More can be done to help farmers make purchasing decisions reflecting the risks of cattle being infected

Evidence shows that badgers do transmit bTB to cattle and contribute to the persistence of the disease

'A Judgement call' : Ministers have to decide whether the real but circumscribed benefits of culling to the farming industry outweigh the animal welfare and environmental concerns of other stakeholders.

A new independent body on disease control would be helpful to take over disease control operations from APHA, Natural England and local authorities

Dr Iain McGill, who called for Farming Minister George Eustice MP 'to consider his position' on November 12 in an interview with Gloucestershire Live, has equally criticised the review.

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The veterinary surgeon, and director of Prion Interest Group claims that the review was based on incorrect data about the sensitivity of Defra's skin test, used for detecting bTB.

The cuddling badgers (Image: BBC)

Dr McGill said: "Godfray proposes the sensitivity to be around 80 per cent. However recent papers using data published in 2017/18 gave a mean sensitivity of around 50 per cent.

"The reason that this is so important us that if the test is only 50 per cent sensitive, it will leave 50 per cent of infected animals in the herd, which can go on to infect more cattle.

"Currently Defra are lying to farmers that their herds are Officially TB Free (OTF) when in many cases, the disease is still there, hidden in the herd but undetected by a test entirely unfit for purpose.

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Defra need to be honest and inform farmers of this, otherwise farmers are bound to look for a scapegoat if there is a bTB breakdown.

The real culprit is Defra's useless skin test."

Government response to the review

Farming Minister George Eustice said: "We welcome this review of the Government's 25-year bTB strategy and I extend my thanks to Sir Charles Godfray and his team for their hard work producing the report.

"As a Government we are committed to eradicating bTB and have always been clear that there is no single measure for tackling it. That's why we have pursued a range of interventions, including cattle movement controls, vaccinations and controlled culling in certain areas.

"Sir Charles' report is an important contribution that will inform next steps in the strategy to achieve officially TB free status for England by 2038."

Sir Charles Gofray, a population biologisy and Fellow of the Royal Society said: "The Review Panel are acutely aware of the burden this disease places on welfare and well-being of farmers and their families, and the distress many people feel about badger culling.

'Halt the flawed policy'

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has expressed 'extreme concern about the recommendations' of the Godfray review.

A spokesman for the charity said: "We welcomes the review's recommendation for a change of emphasis on the government's strategy for eradicating bTB, but we are extremely concerned that it also recommends that badger culling should continue.

According to Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, this flies in the face of robust scientific evidence and the charity urges the government to halt its flawed policy, which is expensive and leads to tens of thousands of badgers being killed every year."

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"We support the commitment to tackling this disease, but scientific evidence indicates that cattle and not badgers should be the focus of efforts to eradicate bTB."

"The Godfray review highlights the potential for a large-scale badger vaccination programme as an alternative to culling which we welcome. Badger vaccination should be used strategically, with more resources invested to roll out a widespread vaccination programme.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is calling on the government to:

Halt the badger cull now.

Invest in and promote a strategy for badger vaccination. This should be led and funded by the government, across England.

Invest more time and resource in supporting improved farm biosecurity and movement controls.

Accelerate development of more effective tests for bovine TB in cattle and put serious investment into a bovine TB cattle vaccine. This is a cattle problem, not a wildlife problem.

Release all data related to the efficacy of the cull so that it can be independently assessed.

National Farmers Union: 'very disappointed'

James Small, from the South West NFU, said that Sir Charles Godfray "does not seem to have realised we are already fighting this awful disease on all fronts.

"There is a stringent cattle testing and slaughter programme, with thousands of animals being slaughtered every year.

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"But what the report doesn’t say is that Sir Charles did not have access to the latest figures, which show a big drop in the incidence of new cases of TB in the original cull zones in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

"His review called for more emphasis on cattle controls, bio security and risk-based trading, and for the industry to take ‘more responsibility’ for this.

"He also claimed that whilst badgers did carry disease, culling would only have a ‘modest’ effect in reducing TB.

"Biosecurity is taken very seriously and as far as vaccinating badgers goes, we have always said this does have its place, but it is expensive, haphazard and does not cure infected badgers and thus of no use in the South West.

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Dr McGill told Gloucestershire Live yesterday that a basic BCG vaccination for cattle could be deployed immediately, and is relatively cheap, but that 'the government refuse to give it the green light because they claim the EU restricts them from doing so.

The review states: "There are many relatively cheap things a farmer can do to separate cattle from badgers, and cattle from cattle."

Badger in the field (Image: PA)

'National scandal'

Lynn Sawyer, chairman of the Gloucestershire Badger Office, claimed that fox hunts take place across Gloucestershire and 'often travel across bTB infected farms.'

Gloucestershire Badger Trust spokesman, Paul Smith, said: "The badger culls are a national scandal. They are an act of deliberate politically motivated aggression not only against protected wildlife species but also against scientific public opinion.

"The government nevertheless claimed the opposite and created policy based on 'fake' science in order to appeal to its rural voter base."

Paul claims "clear scientific evidence shows that badgers actively avoid cattle and 96 per cent of badgers culled do not even have TB."

Gloucestershire Badger Trust data:

The latest figures for TB in the original two cull zones in Somerset and Gloucestershire shows:

Approximately 55% increase in new herd breakdowns in the Glos Cull zone after 5 years of culling

29 % increase in the number of affected herds, and associated similar increase in prevalence

bTB disease spinning wildly out of control in Dorset (after 3 years of culling)

The main talking point about this latest 'scientific review' is that those most affected have criticised the 'scientific nature and data' used to make its conclusion.